1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to truck bed liners, and, more particularly, the present invention is directed to a truck bed liner which is foldable for compact shipping and storage and for ease of installation and/or removal from a truck cargo bed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pick-up trucks, long utilized as working vehicles, have, in recent years, become accepted for use as family cars. Pick-up trucks have also, of recent years, gained popularity as sport vehicles. Because of the multiple uses of a pick-up truck, attempts have been made to adapt the same pick-up truck to allow usage as a working vehicle in some instances, and a family car in other instances.
When the pick-up truck is utilized as a working vehicle, the aesthetic appearance of the pick-up truck is of little concern to the user. However, when the same pick-up truck is to be utilized as a family car, or as a sport vehicle, the aesthetic appearance of the pick-up truck is of substantial importance.
Many attempts to adapt the vehicle for dual usage provide some sort of protective layer or liner positioned in the cargo area of the pick-up truck to prevent the cargo area floor and walls from scratches, chips, and dents resulting from haulage of cargo in the truck cargo bed. When so desired, the protective liner may be removed from the cargo bed. Numerous truck liners are known in the art including U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,181,329 to Nix et al., 4,881,768 to Nix, 4,336,963 to Nix et al., 4,162,098 to Richardson III, 4,161,335 to Nix et al., 4,740,027 to Ormiston, 4,341,412 to Wayne, 4,111,481 to Nix et al., 4,592,583 to Dresen et al., 4,245,863 to Carter, 3,814,473 to Lorenzen, Jr. and 4,540,214 to Wagner. Each of the aforementioned patents disclose truck bed liners and/or protective inserts for the truck bed of a pick-up truck.
However, none of the truck bed liners disclosed in the aforesaid U.S. Patents provide adequate impact damage protection to all surfaces of the cargo bed--including the front and side walls of the bed, the floor of the bed, the inner wall of the tailgate, and the front, rear, top, and side walls of the wheel wells protruding upwardly into the bed--from impacts from cargo moving about the cargo bed.
Furthermore, the truck bed liners of the prior art are generally formed of large, bulky shells which, because of their bulk, are expensive to ship and cannot be compactly and efficiently stored by either a warehouse, a retail outlet or a private consumer. Still further, such large bulky shells are generally inflexible and relatively awkward to handle. Consequently, they are oftentimes difficult to install and/or remove from a truck cargo bed.
One disadvantage of a pick-up truck is the lack of storage space in the cab area of the pick-up truck. As a result, portable storage containers are placed in the cargo area of the pick-up truck for allowing the storage therewithin of material. For instance, quite frequently, tool chests are mounted in the cargo area of the pick-up truck to allow the storage therewithin of tools. However, the storage container must be securely attached to the pick-up truck. Otherwise, the storage container may slide about the cargo bed. This oftentimes necessitates the drilling of holes into the sidewalls and/or frontwalls of the truck cargo bed. In the event that a protective liner is also positioned in the truck cargo bed, bores must also be drilled through the truck bed liner to allow the storage container to be securely affixed to the pick-up truck. Such action makes removal of the truck bed liner from the truck cargo area more difficult and burdensome. Portability is a significant feature of many of the aforementioned prior art truck bed liners. Attachment of storage containers to the pick-up truck therefore greatly lessens the usefulness of many of the prior art truck bed liners.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a liner for a cargo bed of a pick-up truck which protects all surfaces of the cargo bed from impact damage.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a liner for a cargo bed of a pick-up truck which is foldable for compact shipping and storage.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a liner for a cargo bed of a pick-up truck which is foldable for ease of installation and/or removal from the cargo bed.
It is still a further object liner for a cargo bed of a pick-up truck which allows structures as simple as a length of wood and as sophisticated as a molded storage container to be firmly supported therein, but easily removable therefrom.
Still other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in light of the attached drawings and description of the invention presented hereinbelow.